So I get in my car yesterday morning and go to start it. It starts up fine, but my hardwired Valentine-1 goes haywire repeatedly turning on and off. The ABS light also pops up. This seemed awfully strange but I figured I would address it later after work when I get home.

I proceed to pull out of the driveway continue on. As I'm driving down the road, all of a sudden I hear this really loud BANG. It literally sounded like an MLB pitcher threw a fast ball at the back of my trunk. 30 seconds later my car powers off completely and dies in the middle of a busy street. No lights, no radio, won't turn over, nothin. Then I smell smoke coming from the trunk. I get out and open the trunk, pull off the battery cover on the right hand side and I see smoldering wires and melted plastic.

Of course theres a guard rail to the left of me and a sidewalk to the right and I'm on an incline so I'm basically f***ed. I call triple A and they send a CHP to assist me in getting off the road, followed by a tow truck. While I'm waiting for the officer, this little old man who can barely see over his dashboard locks up his brakes and almost impales me between my car and his.

Finally the cop gets there, uses his bumper to push me off the road so that I'm not endangering myself or other drivers. Well he ends up leaving two nice big creases in the back of my bumper in the process.

About a half hour goes by and the tow truck shows up and lo and behold its one of those POS tow trucks that just attaches to the back of your car and basically drags it with the back end sticking up. After seeing my neighbors 993 porsche have its bumper torn in half by one of these sh*t trucks 4 years ago, I said no way. Theres no way you're towing my car with this thing, I need a flatbed tow truck. Of course, that entailed waiting another three hours before one could get there. Finally they show up with a proper tow truck capable of towing a sports car with low clearance.

I get it towed to my shop, Valley Motorwerks and explain everything to them. (They've got one mechanic who really knows E9X's) After examining the battery he tells me what he thinks happened; It turns out when you change the battery in an E9X, you have to plug in a diagnostic tool and punch in a code telling the car that you are putting in a new battery. (I changed the battery myself a few months ago and put in an interstate) Furthermore, according to him you can only use a BMW OEM battery in an E9X. By failing to do either, this is what will result.

I'm sorry but this is so f***ing weak on BMW's part. Sabotaging your f***ing customers so that your dealerships can make more money? I've changed plenty of batteries in my lifetime in my E36's and my old E46. And never has any bulls**t like this happened from using an aftermarket battery.

I got the call this morning from the mechanic. He says its gonna be close to a thousand bucks to replace all of the damaged cables and parts in order to get the car running again.

Sorry for your misfortune, hopefully others can learn from it. There are a lot of threads here about " i changed my battery and did not register it, and it works fine". Unfortunately you got stung and learned first hand what can happen when a battery is not charged properly. Registering the battery is about telling the charger what kind of battery is installed (wet, AGM,etc), and what stage of life the battery is in so that overcharging does not occur.

Sorry for your misfortune, hopefully others can learn from it. There are a lot of threads here about " i changed my battery and did not register it, and it works fine". Unfortunately you got stung and learned first hand what can happen when a battery is not charged properly. Registering the battery is about telling the charger what kind of battery is installed (wet, AGM,etc), and what stage of life the battery is in so that overcharging does not occur.

I know its a long post, but my hope is that members on this forum will read it, learn from my misfortune and not have the same thing happen to their cars. Again, having changed plenty of batteries on different makes of bmw's in the past, this is a first for me.

I wonder if part of the problem with these cars is that there are so many electricaly powered systems necessary for operation that the battery must be returning maximum output at all times, thus a necessity to maintain a maximum charge, thus the necessity to register the battery. It seems as if most vehicles simply use the battery to start the engine, then allow the alternator to run everything. Based on the numbers of issues reported in the forums that have been caused by a low battery, it would seem that many systems are powered directly from the battery, and the alternator is only powering the battery.

I wonder if part of the problem with these cars is that there are so many electricaly powered systems necessary for operation that the battery must be returning maximum output at all times, thus a necessity to maintain a maximum charge, thus the necessity to register the battery. It seems as if most vehicles simply use the battery to start the engine, then allow the alternator to run everything. Based on the numbers of issues reported in the forums that have been caused by a low battery, it would seem that many systems are powered directly from the battery, and the alternator is only powering the battery.

Well I think I remember reading that our cars can have 3 different types of batteries from the factory. I think it was 70, 80, or 90 amp depending on which options you have.

Replacing a battery with the wrong spec will either over or under charge it.

Damn that sucks. Now we have solid proof as to why we need to register our batteries.

Also you don't have to replace with OEM. You just have to have an AGM type battery with the same specs. Did you get an AGM type Interstate with the same specs as OEM?

EDIT: I agree it's BS we have to register our batteries. I have a BT tool though so I can do it myself.

I dont think they are all AGM,there are wet cell batteries listed on real oem also. I dont think the BT tool has the capability to specify type of battery, but if you go to real OEM, the parts listing for batteries shows a service instruction that the type of battery must be registered also. I suppose that would only be an issue if you changed types.

Damn that sucks. Now we have solid proof as to why we need to register our batteries.

Also you don't have to replace with OEM. You just have to have an AGM type battery with the same specs. Did you get an AGM type Interstate with the same specs as OEM?

EDIT: I agree it's BS we have to register our batteries. I have a BT tool though so I can do it myself.

I wish I knew. I purchased it at a Napa auto parts (cause i knew the stealership would scew me if i went there), and I just told the guy behind the counter that I needed a battery for a 2006 bmw E90 330i. I guess I should have known better as he probably could have told me anything i needed to know about a dodge truck but obviously didn't know squat about anything non-domestic.

I dont think they are all AGM,there are wet cell batteries listed on real oem also. I dont think the BT tool has the capability to specify type of battery, but if you go to real OEM, the parts listing for batteries shows a service instruction that the type of battery must be registered also. I suppose that would only be an issue if you changed types.

You may be right. Like I said I think those were the options....I'm not positive.

"A more powerful battery may be installed
during retrofitting operations.
Standard batteries can always be
replaced by AGM batteries with the same
specifications.
Following either type of replacement,
the vehicle registration process in
ISTA/P must be supplemented by a vehicle
coding procedure, which is carried out
as follows:
----------------------------------------
Read out battery size and registration
from onboard electrical system:
ISTA->Service functions->Body->Voltage
supply->Register_battery replacement->
Test plan"

Like physically what happens when you dont get a OEM BMW battery and have it "coded".

Excuse my ignorance but I think all of us still have this question.

Just trying to figure out what the registering/coding does.

Thats what I thought too. My guess is as good as yours. I do recall the mechanic saying that unlike the e36's and e46's, the e9x's are equipped with what is called a "smart pack" which is a plastic box with a bunch of wires in it that attaches to the battery. This is what primarily failed. Anyone familiar with this part?

When the dealer refused to replace my battery and charged me $300 for it, the SA consoled me by noting that it wasn't a simple screw on job and it needed to be registered with the car. Honestly, i didn't believe him then, but good to know.

Being a fan of Honda engines, I requested that they consider building for the F1 a 4.5 liter V10 or V12. I asked, I tried to persuade them, but in the end could not convince them to do it, and the McLaren F1 ended up with a BMW engine.

It used to be that alternators had the voltage regulator built into them which determined the condition of ANY battery allowing the alternator to charge the battery properly without incident. BMW, however, has taken the control away from the voltage regulator allowing them to set the charging ranges themselves. This margin alone gives them total control of the servicing and parts for your vehicle and takes it away from you and your local parts shop. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I get it towed to my shop, Valley Motorwerks and explain everything to them. (They've got one mechanic who really knows E9X's) After examining the battery he tells me what he thinks happened; It turns out when you change the battery in an E9X, you have to plug in a diagnostic tool and punch in a code telling the car that you are putting in a new battery. (I changed the battery myself a few months ago and put in an interstate) Furthermore, according to him you can only use a BMW OEM battery in an E9X. By failing to do either, this is what will result.

Can you tell us EXACTLY please what code of battery (size) and amperage rating was sold to you?